DAVID VANDERVELDE

David Vandervelde appeared before us one hot summer day like a dynamo. The sound we heard coming through in stereo was that of our coming-of-age years screaming back at us - a faithful reminder that our beauteous days of bowing before pin-up rock stars and carving iconographic logos on desktops and in famous treetrunks have not passed us by. No, David Vandervelde is here to remind us that the truest, most primal and addictive properties of rock n' roll are ageless.

We are proud to announce the 15th Anniversary reissue of the Songs: Ohia classic Hecla & Griper; available for the first time on vinyl. You’ll find two previously unreleased Songs: Ohia tracks, “Debts” and “Pilot & Friend,” and two alternative versions of songs from Impala on the reissued vinyl.

The reissue is one of several projects Secretly Canadian was working with Jason Molina prior to his passing in March. Hecla & Griper is now available in stores and online at SC Distribution.

Head to Bloomington, IN on Saturday, May 11 for the Jason Molina memorial concert. The event will take place at The Bluebird, with doors to open at 8PM / show at 9PM and admission is a $5 donation. Bands performing include: Songs: Ohia (members from all over the country and all eras performing songs specific to the eras in which they recorded with Jason), Magnolia Electric Co (with special guest singers and musicians), Oneida, and The Coke Dares. Special guests listed below.

Earlier this week Vandervelde performed on Music City Roots, a weekly live musical variety show in Nashville performed in front of a live audience and broadcast live on Lightning 100. Fast forward to the 1:11 mark to catch Vandervelde’s performance.

May 3 Vandervelde will release a new digital single including the new retro-jammer “More Than You Can Feel” but you can sample the song today. RCRDLBL premiered the song this morning:

“Channeling Zuma-era Neil Young, mixed with the weary cocaine fanaticism of Marc Bolan (get a lot of that cowbell in the song’s hook! It’s the most melodic cowbell we’ve heard in…ever probably). The tremolo-drenched guitars are retro but massive, a nice foil to Vandervelde’s warbling tenor vocals, communicating that age-old pain of people everywhere: “I need you/All I need is you/More than you know.” A fairly straightforward sentiment that Vandervelde makes work with nothing more than sincerity and a few chords. And a lot of cowbell.”

Stay tuned for the official release on May 3 to hear the wonderfully boozy B-side “Beer” co-written with the late great Jay Bennett. Vandervelde also hits the road in May bringing new tracks from a forthcoming full-length to the stage for the first time. Check out the dates after the jump.

David Vandervelde is on an absolute songwriting tear right now, churning out these magma nuggets of summers present like a young man possessed. It’s as if the teenagers in Footloose locked into a deep bliss-metal and glam kick, and Vandervelde threw the bomb-ass after-prom kegger at his pad. Today, FADER premiered “Checkin’ Out My Baby,” the latest digital single from Vanderland. Now available via most any digital music retailer, “Checkin’ Out My Baby” is three and half minutes stomping, fuzzy pop, full of glammy falsetto and joyous shredding. With these new gems, FADER noted that Vandervelde “has managed to make music that evokes multiple decades, multiple drugs and all the good parts of being a cocky teenager.” We’re all in.